Dimensional Transit gate
"Does it ever bother me that every gate we build is based on technology we got from somebody else? Not really. The way I look at it it's kinda like sex. You Ain't inventin anythin new, it's all the same general work, Insert Peg M into Slot F Repeat as needed, but at the end you still feel like yah just got done winnin tha Tarantulan Marathon." ~Head of Construction, Karilon V Gate facility Dimensional Transit gates are another form of Legacy technology that was built by an ancient race, and has been inherited by the younger races for use. Due to the design of the gates themselves, they are actually far easier to be copied and have more modern versions built by the younger races, resulting in two classifications, original and Modern-built. Original gates tend to be huge rings or ovals with 4 Nodes located equidistant around the circumference. A few are actually already segmented around the ring area, which would seem to allow them to determine how large or small to alter the gate's size. Sometimes the rings are interlaced with dramatic carvings and consist of materials considered highly valuable, sometimes not, or they may even be absent all together. It all seems to have been left to some kind of strange aesthetic of the original builders. The actual mechanisms for operating the gate are located within the 4 nodes, they themselves may be somewhat artistically decorated or be merely plain mechanics with a bit of shielding. The full ring sized gates seem to be at least a Kilometer across on the interior diameter, which gives most modern xeno-archaeologists an idea on just how large the average size ship that creator species made use of (You don't build a door so much larger or smaller than your needs dictate after all). There are several which are two or three across, however these are rarities. And of course some of the ones without connecting struts are set up to be able to adjust their size using thrusters or other means. Modern-built gates lack the fully encircled ring design. once it was discovered that you didn't need a full ring and merely the technology in the 4 nodes to generate a vortex, economically it makes sense to put together some of the bare minimal components. Especially since the average ship to use a gate is going to be much smaller in diameter than kilometers in size, it saves on power usage to make use of gates that are variable in size to accommodate, also this gives those who collect fees for passage through the gates to charge less for smaller craft and more for larger. In some cases, Original Jump gates have been taken over and built onto by civilizations who were somehow unable to get the gate operational. Either they were unable to unlock the activation sequence or merely not interested in interstellar travel at the time, and there are some locations that you will find the rings have been built up into massive space stations, sometimes even the inhabitants of the station don't know they are living on top of a giant device for transportation. Other times original jump gates have become iced over, or collected interstellar particles or otherwise become encased in particulate matter during their time adrift and may be mistaken for asteroids or very small moons. one such gate was discovered by Surveyors looking for material to claim for gate construction and when they started breaking down the asteroid for it's pure core, discovered an already built gate within the stone. It is, perhaps, a shame of the age to say that since a lot of the material used in the construction of the "ring" around the gate nodes is composed of materials necessary to build new gates, that a lot of the older gates have found themselves stripped of this additional design work by the race that claims the gate so they can either sell the materials or build new gates of their own. Sometimes even simple economics of stripping the excess material to allow for adjustment of the nodes to cut on power usage is behind the matter. It's likewise unknown if this is what may have been the case with the original "barebones" node system where a previous race already scavenged the material or the gate was initially built that way and abandoned, or left that way on purpose. Many Xeno-archaeologists lament the loss of potentially immense insights into the society and psychology of the builders because of this, and due to the intricacies of much of the design elements, artists lament the loss as well. ---- What they do No matter if modern built, or original design, the gates create a dimensional opening similar to one formed by a Dimensional Transit Drive that allows access for a ship without the capability to create a portal from one location to another. This Vortex allows for one-way passage to or from "Hyperspace" (the catch-all name for such a interlaced dimensional space) as well as providing navigational beacons to follow for travel in the dimensional space. The navigational beacons are a recent addition from the younger races who make use of the gates, as the originally built gates have no measurable means of identifying their presence or location dimensionally. Whether this was not a feature the creators needed, or was turned off when they declined or departed space it is unknown. Transit through a gate is fairly easy. When departing realspace through a gate, transit costs are usually purchased in advance, and logged so when the ship approaches the gate it transmits it's IFF and the operator system opens a portal, it then proceeds on through and is on it's way. Coming from Dimensional space the ship will submit IFF and a confirmation signal which usually confirms that it's speaking to the correct gate and what the cost of transit is. Most oftentimes the automated relay will provide the information that it is This gate, they are open and the cost is X.XX. If the captain agrees to purchase passage then he transmits the account number, is sent a receipt and the gate is opened. Though wise captains will negotiate prepaid passage to the target system for bulk loads, thus obtaining either a merchant account or pre-paid authorization that is the same as if he paid directly. Gate systems can be set up to delay passage without additional authorization from local control, such as in a state of conflict they may need to triple-check a ship to make certain it's not an enemy, or deny passage through the gate for such enemy ships. or require a coded transmission to open at all. One thing that cannot be done easily is to Turn a gate "off". Once the gate has been powered up and started running, it takes several standard days for the capacitors and systems to get fully charged, and even more time to Discharge all that energy and make itself non-functional if shut down. Even the process of shutting down can be tricky to do it properly without causing undue damage to the systems themselves and ruining the gate generators. Powering up is similarly tricky, but charging a gate for the first time of use is not nearly as difficult as powering one down. ---- Additional One thing that there has been no record of in modern civilizations who make use of a Dimensional gate is even in times of war, the gates are not targeted or destroyed. This is not just a matter of unwritten agreement, but also of common sense. Based on information from improper powering up or shutting down of a gate, should the gate suffer catastrophic failure or be damaged to the point of destabilization, it not only unleashes enough energy akin to what can be described as a "small supernova" which can cause devastating effects to the planetary system it is in, but also distorts dimensional space with the release of energy and can cause all manner of problems for ships attempting to transit in an area of such instability. Neither side in even the biggest conflict will generally wish to risk destroying their main means of Conveyance or interstellar trade, so capturing a gate at the end of a war is preferable to destroying it.